The Tanks

[Sonk]

‘Tanking’ should be more competitive for the 2026 and 2027 drafts than this year. Being bad those two years gives a really good shot at a franchise changing C or D (or both) if one team is that lucky.

 

[ponder719]

Flyers pretty obviously decided to go for the tank

It's funny that you say that, because I was popping by to say that they should be tanking, but aren't. Probably just a difference in what each of us views tanking to be, but a proper tank, IMO, would have involved trading away the Travii for an absolute haul, not Frostabee for a... questionable one, shall we say.

 

[theguardianII]

The 2025 draft is supposed to be very weak, so not surprising that we didn't see any teams launch a tank this season.

Pittsburgh is the only team at a stage where a full rebuild and tank would make sense, but they can't (which is probably a good thing because those usually don't work). Crosby, Malkin, and Letang will not play anywhere else. Karlsson's contract already has retention, it can't go lower than $5m.

There are a few Western Conference orgs that have more underperforming vets than good prospects, but all those bad teams just means the Wild Card is wide open, and teams don't tank if they see a path to the playoffs.

Lean for superstars but where there might be a large number of quality now they can draft quantity and get 2 or 3 NHL players in one year.

Is it tanking if we already knew these teams would be bad?

Used to be called, "seeing what is in the system", "money dumps", "keeping injured guys out extra time to heal" and other usual sayings that all meant intentional losing without ever saying those words.

I'm more interested in who will be the worst team in the league next year. With McKenna coming out, will it be another year of San Jose and Chicago or will another team(s) sell off over the summer to out tank the tanks?

Even though San Jose and Chicago are still clearly the worst 2 teams in the league, they are definitely better than they were last year and will likely improve further going into next year. So there will be room at the bottom if someone wants it.

A danger for Chicago and SanJose is they already have really good drafted players and it is possible they will carry a team outside of great picks just because they are that good. Or they get frustrated.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Unless Chicago signs some big UFA's this summer they're realistically still a gutter team. Even if they draft Schaefer or Misa I don't think either will move the needle much from where they are currently. I would imagine it's similar for San Jose. Nashville SHOULD be better you'd think but they also shouldn't be so shit right now either so who knows. I'd bet PIT takes a step back and Buffalo creeps up.

 

[kerrabria]

I'm sorry but thanks usually work.

In tanks teams usually gage a coup ki r top t picks and some in top 10-15.
Look at

Chicago
04-3, 05-7,06-3,07-1 **
LA
07-4,08-2,09-5 **
Pittsburgh
02-5,03-1,04-2,05-1,06-2
Washington
04-1,06-4, 07-5, **
Colorado
09-3, 11-2,13-1,17-4 **
Tampa bay
08-1, 09-2, 10-6, 13-4 **
Florida
10-3,11-3, 13-2, 14-1 **
St louis
06-1, 08-4 **

** drafted a few other players in top 15

This will apply to Carolina, Toronto, edmonton, and s few other teams if they win the xup

No it doesn't.
First, most of the teams you listed didn't actually tank (i.e., completely dismantle their teams to win the lottery and acquire additional first round picks). For example, how did Tampa Bay tank when they held onto Lecavlier and St. Louis?

The notable tanks of the past ~20 years are the following. Here are the first round picks they came away with.

2006-09 Chicago: Barker, Skille, Toews, Kane, Beach
2006-10 Los Angeles: Bernier, Lewis, Hickey, Doughty, Schenn, Forbort
2010-14 Florida: Gudbranson, Bjugstad, Howden, Huberdeau, Matheson, Barkov, Ekblad
2010-16 Edmonton: Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Klefbom, Yakupov, Nurse, Draisaitl, McDavid, Puljujarvi
2017-20 Rangers: Kakko, Lafreniere, Chytil, Andersson, Miller, Lundkvist, Schneider
2009-14 Islanders: Tavares, de Haan, Niederreiter, Nelson, Strome, Reinhart, Pulock, Dal Colle, Ho-Sang
2013-16 Sabres: Ristolainen, Zadorov, Reinhart, Eichel, Nylander
2018-21 Sabres: Dahlin, Cozens, Quinn, Power, Rosen

There's a reason that every single GM on this list got fired before the team became good again. The successful teams didn't win with a core (or even supporting cast) comprised of players drafted thanks to a tank.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Of all the tanks, I respect SJ’s the most. They tried until the wheels fell off with Thornton and co., and it left ‘em in a spot where they pretty much had to rebuild. They fell to the bottom naturally, and now Grier just sells off parts to keep ‘em there a bit longer. I hope they get the 1st overall for being awful the right way.

 

[Guy Larose]

Why? These teams aren’t doing anything but playing badly. There hasn’t been a dismantling of rosters and selling off for parts.

Tanking is a specific action(s) to me. Merely more than just a bad team being bad.

Finally someone other than me on this site that actually knows what tanking means.

 

[FlyguyOX]

It's funny that you say that, because I was popping by to say that they should be tanking, but aren't. Probably just a difference in what each of us views tanking to be, but a proper tank, IMO, would have involved trading away the Travii for an absolute haul, not Frostabee for a... questionable one, shall we say.

I think it's a fine middle-ground tank. Obviously season wasn't going well, so they move out two guys in their prime to clear cap space. But they don't move best players.

It's not a chicago shit-show by any means. And I think the teams that have done that have been struggling for a decade now despite all the talent drafted.

 

[ponder719]

I think it's a fine middle-ground tank. Obviously season wasn't going well, so they move out two guys in their prime to clear cap space. But they don't move best players.

It's not a chicago shit-show by any means. And I think the teams that have done that have been struggling for a decade now despite all the talent drafted.

Yeah, as I was saying, just a difference in how we use terminology. "Middle-ground tank" isn't a term that makes sense in my view; there's retooling, rebuilding, and tanking, and both rebuilding and tanking are more substantial reshapings of a roster than what you've defined here. We're at "retool" at best, as I see it. (FWIW, a rebuild, to me, requires at least one core roster player moved purely for value purposes, not because they demanded a trade or there's no longer a cultural fit; a tank means dropping essentially everyone of value over the age of 25 and starting the roster over from scratch, like SJ.)

That said, the Chicago shit-show? We've seen that play out before, and it worked out gangbusters for Pittsburgh, and Chicago the last time they did it. Tanking absolutely can work, if you get the right pieces in place to direct player development. It's when the support structure isn't sufficient that you get a Buffalo-style eternal rebuild.

 

[Rubi]

I was hoping the Flames would tank this season however the outstanding play of rookie goalie Dustin Wolf has somewhat sewered that dream.
Why tank in an admittedly weak draft? Because the Flames are searching for a top line center and there could be five or so drafted in the top 10. Another bonus is that a center taken 10th may very well end up being as good as or perhaps even better than one taken 4th... there's just that much parity between draft picks in the top 10.